Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation
Abstract People judge the nature of human behaviors based on underlying intentions and possible outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated a causal role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in modulating both intention and intention-based outcome evaluations during social judgments. However,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28293-w |
| _version_ | 1811175887207399424 |
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| author | Junfeng Zhang Sai Sun Chengyan Zhou Yaochun Cai Hao Liu Zhaoyang Yang Rongjun Yu |
| author_facet | Junfeng Zhang Sai Sun Chengyan Zhou Yaochun Cai Hao Liu Zhaoyang Yang Rongjun Yu |
| author_sort | Junfeng Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract People judge the nature of human behaviors based on underlying intentions and possible outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated a causal role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in modulating both intention and intention-based outcome evaluations during social judgments. However, these studies mainly used hypothetical scenarios with socially undesirable contexts (bad/neutral intentions and bad/neutral outcomes), leaving the role of rTPJ in judging good intentions and good outcomes unclear. In the current study, participants were instructed to make goodness judgments as a third party toward the monetary allocations from one proposer to another responder. Critically, in some cases, the initial allocation by the proposer could be reversed by the computer, yielding combinations of good/bad intentions (of the proposer) with good/bad outcomes (for the responder). Anodal (n = 20), cathodal (n = 21), and sham (n = 21) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the rTPJ were randomly assigned to 62 subjects to further examine the effects of stimulation over the rTPJ in modulating intention-based outcome evaluation. Compared to the anodal and sham stimulations, cathodal tDCS over the rTPJ reduced the goodness ratings of good/bad outcomes when the intentions were good, whereas it showed no significant effect on outcome ratings under unknown and bad intentions. Our results provide the first evidence that deactivating the rTPJ modulates outcome evaluation in an intention-dependent fashion, mainly by reducing the goodness rating towards both good/bad outcomes when the intentions are good. Our findings argue for a causal role of the rTPJ in modulating intention-based social judgments and point to nuanced effects of rTPJ modulation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T19:43:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8d9f59a0700e4f9da2120a6e3d051a66 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T19:43:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-8d9f59a0700e4f9da2120a6e3d051a662023-01-29T12:11:27ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-01-011311910.1038/s41598-023-28293-wBreakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivationJunfeng Zhang0Sai Sun1Chengyan Zhou2Yaochun Cai3Hao Liu4Zhaoyang Yang5Rongjun Yu6Research Base of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese MedicineFrontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku UniversitySchool of Psychology, South China Normal UniversitySchool of Psychology, South China Normal UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Guangzhou UniversityResearch Base of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese MedicineDepartment of Management, Marketing, and Information Systems, School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, HKSARAbstract People judge the nature of human behaviors based on underlying intentions and possible outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated a causal role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in modulating both intention and intention-based outcome evaluations during social judgments. However, these studies mainly used hypothetical scenarios with socially undesirable contexts (bad/neutral intentions and bad/neutral outcomes), leaving the role of rTPJ in judging good intentions and good outcomes unclear. In the current study, participants were instructed to make goodness judgments as a third party toward the monetary allocations from one proposer to another responder. Critically, in some cases, the initial allocation by the proposer could be reversed by the computer, yielding combinations of good/bad intentions (of the proposer) with good/bad outcomes (for the responder). Anodal (n = 20), cathodal (n = 21), and sham (n = 21) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the rTPJ were randomly assigned to 62 subjects to further examine the effects of stimulation over the rTPJ in modulating intention-based outcome evaluation. Compared to the anodal and sham stimulations, cathodal tDCS over the rTPJ reduced the goodness ratings of good/bad outcomes when the intentions were good, whereas it showed no significant effect on outcome ratings under unknown and bad intentions. Our results provide the first evidence that deactivating the rTPJ modulates outcome evaluation in an intention-dependent fashion, mainly by reducing the goodness rating towards both good/bad outcomes when the intentions are good. Our findings argue for a causal role of the rTPJ in modulating intention-based social judgments and point to nuanced effects of rTPJ modulation.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28293-w |
| spellingShingle | Junfeng Zhang Sai Sun Chengyan Zhou Yaochun Cai Hao Liu Zhaoyang Yang Rongjun Yu Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation Scientific Reports |
| title | Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation |
| title_full | Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation |
| title_fullStr | Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation |
| title_short | Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation |
| title_sort | breakdown of intention based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28293-w |
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